


Nothing Will Change... Right?

by MeganKray99



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: 4th Man Out AU, AU, F/M, I don't even ship two of the three I am writing about, M/M, Probably quite out of character for most
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-07
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-06-06 13:50:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15196127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganKray99/pseuds/MeganKray99
Summary: “All right guys, I want to talk to you about something. This isn’t easy for me, but I’m turning 24 today and I think its time I told you the truth…"Alec decides its time to come out to his friends. But will they react the way he wants?4th Man Out, retold as the TMI characters





	1. "Today's the Day"

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be a retelling of 4th Man Out but using the TMI characters. This means that most of the dialogue and characterisations will be extremely accurate to the movie (I tried to fit roles the best I could). However, there are some parts completely made up by me because I wanted to include Izzy (therefore all of her scenes had to be written from scratch) and I wanted more Malec interaction than the movie would have given.
> 
> Also, to avoid any confusion about Jace, in this he is biologically a Wayland, but the two families are extremely close. He still has a very close, sibling-like relationship with the Lightwoods, but not as literally as it is in the books. This also means he is not related to Imogen, who is a recurring character.

Alec took. a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. _Today’s the day. This is it._

“All right guys, I want to talk to you about something. This isn’t easy for me, but I’m turning 24 today and I think its time I told you the truth… W-what I mean is… Okay, so the thing is that, uh--”

**DINGDONG**

The sound of the doorbell startled him. He looked towards the door, then back at the picture of his friends he was holding - the four of them together in 6th grade in their baseball uniforms. After a sad, but relieved sigh, Alec made his way to the front door. As he opened the door, he was greeted by his neighbour.

“Hey, Imogen, how are you?”

“Alec, I hope you like blueberries.”

Imogen handed over a Tupperware box of what Alec assumed was some kind of cake. “Thanks. You didn’t have to do all this.”

“Nonsense,” Imogen waved dismissively. “It was no trouble at all. Its just leftovers from church group this week. Its so nice to have young man like yourself who enjoys my cooking.” She placed a hand on his shoulder as a kind gesture. She had a habit of this. Alec often thinks its to mask her strict attitudes and tough interior.

Alec looked at the hand and began to feel awkward. “Thank y-“

“You’re still free next Saturday, right?”

“Saturday?”

“My friend’s daughter is definitely coming this time and I have told her all about you.” The cheeky smile of her face made Alec’s awkwardness even worse.

“About that, I’m actually… Saturday is not really good for me.”

“You must.” The smile remained on her face, but her tone was more pointed and her expression grew stiff.

“Okay, but--”

“You must. You have to. Its got to happen, I tell you.”

Any further argument from Alec was interrupted by the sound of a car horn from his driveway. Imogen’s expression softened as she saw the car. “Oh, wait, did I catch you at a bad time?”

Relief hit Alec as he rushed to grab his jacket. “Oh, no,” he quickly reassured the woman. “Its Jace. He’s just picking me up.”

She smiled upon hearing Jace’s name (a common reaction from people, Alec noted begrudgingly). “Ah, you boys don’t get in any trouble, okay. Don’t do anything the good Lord wouldn’t do.”

Alec faked a small laugh. “Okay. Thanks for these.” He stepped past Imogen to head down the drive. A few seconds passed before Imogen followed.

“Oh, I have to see Jace. Hi, Jace,” she called down the drive.

Jace stuck his head out of the window to wave back. “Hey, Imogen.”

-

“You have to bang you neighbour, man. It’s the least you can do,” Jace explained with a mouth full of cake. Alec laughed at him.

“Its not like I’m keeping her Tupperware. Besides, I don’t think she’ll be interested. She’s trying to set me up with her friend’s daughter.”

Jace looked at Alec with a light frown. “Dude, then bang the fucking daughter, man. What are you waiting for?”

When Jace looked back at the road, Alec’s smile faultered. “I.. I don’t think I can do that, Jace. The thing is--”

“No,” Jace held a finger up to make Alec stop. “I don’t want to hear your excuses. You’re too damn nitpicky. That’s why you’re on a cold streak. I don’t care how busted this chick is, just give her your dick and keep these cakes coming.” Jace smiled while holding one up, then took another large bite.

Alec was quiet for a moment. “Yeah,” he quietly responded, looking out of the window sadly.

-

Jordan and Simon were standing at a table playing beer pong. Simon was waving the ball in his hand around, making Jordan impatient.

“Just take the damn shot.” Simon threw the ball, but it bounced past the cups. “Oh no, another miss,” Jordan sarcastically commented.

“Hey, boys.” Jace called on his way down the stairs. Jordan spun around and yelled in celebration of the pair’s arrival.

“What’s up, fuckfaces?” Simon shouted from behind him, still trying to get a ball into a cup.

“Get in here, homos.” Jordan picked up a beer bottle as he high-fives Jace. “We leave for the bar in an hour, I want you blacked out by then, all right?” He pressed the bottle against Alec’s chest until the taller boy took it from him. “Especially you, birthday boy.” Alec nodded in agreement and looked for the bottle opener.

“What’s the rush?” Jace asked as he looked through the fridge for a drink of his own.

Jordan sighed dramatically. “The rush is that I haven’t had a Saturday off in over a month--”

“From Maia, or from work?” Alec interrupted. Jordan lightly pushed his shoulder while laughing.

“From both, dude. And I am going to savour every minute of it.”

“By being hung over all day?”

Jordan nodded while taking another drink of beer. Simon then walked over to them. “Did you like that video we sent you?” He asked eagerly.

Alec remembered the video and had to stop himself from grimacing. He had managed to watch a small portion so he knew something about it, only because he knew they would ask. “Oh, yeah, she was a real screamer.” He took a drink to hopefully hide his expression.

Jordan laughed. “And at the end, when he just drops a load on her face.”

“Well, I always struggle to get to the end,” he joked, relaxing a bit with the hidden honesty in that statement. Simon snorted out a laugh.

“It was almost as bad as the one I dropped on Jordan’s mom’s face last night.”

Jordan jokingly pushed Simon, which led to the pair fake-fighting on the sofa. Alec rolled his eyes at them.

“Alec. You wanna get gay?”

Alec turned to Jace is shock, panic rising within him. “Um- I-“ he stuttered. “What?”

Jace held up the bottle of tequila in his hand, waving it slightly. “Do you want a shot?” The question caused Simon and Jordan to stop fighting. Both of the raised their hands and said “I’ll get gay.” Jace looked back at Alec expectedly.

“Oh, ye- yeah. Sure.”

Jordan stood up and put an arm around Alec. “Whoo! Birth-gay! Birth-gay shots!”

-

The four boys were all sat in a booth at The Institute, their local bar. Jace surveyed the room. “Boy, there are some good-looking girls here tonight.” He turned to his friends. “Best of luck to you all. Happy birthday, Alec.” They all held up their glasses and cheered “To Alec!”

After taking a drink, Alec looked down at the table. “So, uh--”

“Holy tits,” Simon muttered. Alec looked back up and saw Jordan and Simon staring at the man and woman on the table behind them. The girl had dark hair and large breasts, which stood out more due to the low cut dress she was wearing. Jordan turned back to them and sighed.

“You guys are lucky you don’t have girlfriends. Look at those bombs. You can bury your face in them and be fine with it.”

Alec snickered. “I don’t think she’d be fine with it.”

“You don’t think they’re together, do you?” Simon asked, still looking at the girl.

Jace rolled his eyes. “I think so, man.”

“I don’t think they’re together.”

“Okay,” Alec tried again. “What I was saying before is--”

“Is she looking?” Simon was staring at Alec now, but was clearly not paying attention to anything he was saying.

“Uh, no. Look I’m--”

“What about now?”

Alec gritted his teeth in annoyance. “Nevermind.” He downed the last half of his drink and put the glass back on the table a bit stronger than necessary. Jace noticed and laughed in amusement.

“Jeez, man. What’s going on with you? You seem weird.”

Alec took a breath. “Nothing. Its- Its just, um… The girl to your right is totally looking at you.”

Jace frowned and turned around to check for himself. As he caught her eye, she looked away. She had carrot-like hair and a fair complexion, and was dressed in casual clothing. The fanny-pack she wore (much to Jace’s amusement) looked quite expensive. Jace found her intriguing.

“I’ll be right back, boys,” Jace muttered before leaving the table. Alec watched Jace walk away, finally dropping the fake smile he was trying to maintain. He glanced back over to the other two boys, who were still sneaking looks at the girl - Jordan was even trying to take a picture. He sighed and looked back at the tabletop.

-

Jace approached the girl, who only looked up at him when he cleared his throat, as if she was pretending not to notice him. Jace gestured towards the fanny pack. “Is this Prada?”

The girl’s mouth opened slightly in shock. The looked down at it and blushed. “Uh, yeah, actually. It was a gift.”

“I’ve never touched anything that expensive before. I’m sorry.” Jace shot her one of his signature smiles, which only seemed to make her laugh. Before he could try anything else, a drunk girl wrapped her arms around the red-head’s shoulders.

“Oh my God, we need to dance, like, right now.” The small girl tried to remove her friend’s arms, but was struggling.

“I’m so sorry, I was watching her but she slipped away.” A woman with long, dark hair ran over and helped remove the girl. When she finished, she looked over to Jace and frowned. “Jace? Of all the bars in New York, we had to be in the same one?”

“Nice to see you too, Izzy. Besides, its Alec’s birthday - where else would we be? Or did you forget?” He reached out and rubbed the top of her head, messing up her hair.

“Of course I didn’t - I’m out celebrating aren’t I? I’m seeing him tomorrow anyway.”

The drunk girl got free from Izzy and tried to hug Jace’s arm. “Guys, I’m serious, we need to dance!”

Jace gently pushed her away from him but smiled at her. “We absolutely do. Hey, Alec,” Jace called across the bar. “You need to dance. Right now.”

Izzy rolled her eyes. “Alec isn’t going to dance.” Jace replied with a shushing gesture that made her smile. When Alec finally arrived, Jace put an arm around him. “I’ve got a dance partner for you right here. This is Alec, my dancing friend,” he explained to the girl.

The girl smiled up at Alec and grabbed his muscles. “Oh my God, you’re hot.”

“He’s great in bed too. Real giver,” Jace winked.

“Jace! That’s gross!” Izzy complained.

“How do you know?” the red-head asked. Jace looked back at her quickly, feeling bad for almost ignoring her.

“What? You don’t sleep with your best friends? That’s selfish. Very selfish.”

Izzy continued to make a disgusted face, but the girl just smirked. “Why don’t you guys make out right now?”

Jace was quiet for a second. “Okay, we’d love to. Should we make out now?” He turned to Alec, who looked horrified. “Come on. ‘We’ll do it if they do it’ kind of thing?” He turned back to the small woman and winked.

Alec began to panic again. “Um, uh--”

Jace looked back to Alec, who looked really uncomfortable. He then saw Izzy shaking her head at him, clearly unimpressed. “You see, the think is, we’ve both been drinking,” he explained, trying to sound disappointed. Alec perked up next to him.

“Yeah, we’ve been drinking, so…”

“It’d be cheap.”

“Cheap. Very cheap.”

“Cheap, if we made out.” Jace finished.

Alec looked at Jace again. “I really have to pee. Bye, Izzy.” Without a second though, Alec quickly walked away from the group.

-

At the table, Jordan was trying to take another picture of the girl. However, the flash went off, and the girl saw the camera.

“Hey! Did you just take a picture of me?!” she yelled.

Jordan turned to Simon in panic.

“He was, uh--” Simon stuttered. “He was… snapping that guy’s unibrow,” he concluded, point to the guy the girl was with.

The man stood up. “You think you’re fucking TMZ, taking pictures of me? You got beef? ‘Cause we can step outside.”

“Fuck that, its cold outside.” Simon retorted.

“Yeah, man. Not all of us wore our favourite leather jacket to the bar,” Jordan added, mocking the man’s attire. This prompted the man to walk over to the table and stare down at them.

“I said, lets step outside.”

-

Alec looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. _What’s wrong with you? Come on, you can do this._

-

“So, you did take a picture of my sister’s chest!”

Simon stared at the man in shock. “You let your sister dress like that?”

Jordan laughed. “That’s your sister? What’s wrong with you?”

The man glared at them, the slowly reached into his jacket, causing the pair to suddenly run from the table.

“Jace!”

-

Alec walked up to Jace at the bar where he was still talking to the girls.

“Jace, I know this isn’t the right time, but… I wanted to say that--”

Simon and Jordan then ran up to them. “Fuck these chicks, we gotta go!” Simon yelled. “Unibrow guy got crazy! Lets get out of here!” He almost started to run again, but stopped to say “oh, hi Izzy” before continuing.

Alec groaned and shouted “dammit,” but followed them out anyway.

Before Jace could move, the drunk girl keeled over and threw up on the floor. Jace attempted to pick her up, muttering “okay, its okay, you’ll be fine,” to her. Once she was standing up again, he turned back to the red-head. “I’m gonna call you, okay?”

She smiled at him sweetly. “Okay. I’ll see you around.”

He smiled back, then ran out to follow his friends.

-

The next morning, the boys were passed out on furniture all around Jordan’s basement. Alec, however, lay awake, staring at the ceiling. Eventually, he rolled over to face Jace, who was sleeping beside him on a pull-out bed.

“Jace,” he whispered to try and rouse him. When he gets no response, he tries again slightly louder. Jace moaned in response, still not opening his eyes. Alec swallowed, then whispered back “I’m gay.”

“Okay, man.” Jace murmured into his pillow, followed by a slight giggle.

“No, I- I like guys.” Alec pushed.

Jace started to slowly open his eyes. “Hmm?”

Once his eyes were fully open, Alec repeated firmly, “I’m gay.”


	2. Poker Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The description of 'Claire's' date look is from Max's party in SH.
> 
> Also, please don't be confused by 'Claire'. This has a purpose and was something I felt like I couldn't leave out.

_Once his eyes were fully open, Alec repeated firmly, “I’m gay.”_

Jace pushed himself up suddenly, muttering “oh, no no no no no no no” before jumping off the side of the bed and running to the bin to throw up.

Simon woke up from the sofa across from them. “Hey, are you alright?”

“Fuck, man. Yes, yeah. I’m fine.” He stood upright and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “Its- That’s not you. It’s the alcohol,” he reassured Alec.

Jordan walked over in a robe. “What the hell’s going on?”

Alec looked to Jordan unsure of what to say.

“I’m hurt, man,” he heard Jace say. “Alec’s gay.” Alec looked down at the floor in embarrassment.

Jordan took a moment to register what Jace had said, and then he pulled the robe on tighter to cover himself more. “I, um, I’m gonna go make coffee,” he said, walking towards the staircase.

Alec shook his head. “I should- I should head out.”

Jace ran over to him. “No, no, its cool.”

“I’m gonna go. Its okay.” He moved past Jace without looking at him properly.

“Alec! Alec, its fine, man,” Jace called as Alec walked up the staircase, but he sighed when he realised he wasn’t stopping. Once Alec was gone, Simon jumped out of his makeshift bed.

“What the hell, is he fucking with us? Alec can’t be gay, he eats steak every day.”

Jordan walked back into the room. “He was eating out Aline Penhallow in the 10th grade.”

“I once saw him rebuild the entire engine on a ’68 mustang.” Jace added.

“Was that before or after he ass-banged you?” Jordan quipped.

“Okay, dude. Too soon.”

They heard footsteps coming back down the stairs and all hushed into silence. Alec reached the bottom, still staring at the ground. “I forgot I didn’t drive.”

-

Alec stared out the window as Jace drove him home. The ride was mostly silent, neither knowing what to say. Eventually, Jace became tired of the uncomfortable silence.

“So, you’re really… gay, huh?”

For a few seconds, Alec didn’t answer. Jace started to think Alec didn’t hear him, until the other man finally turned to face him. “Yeah.”

They looked at each other, then quickly looked away again. “Cool. Cool.”

“Cool.”

“… You’ve had sex with women before. You dated Courtney for a year. Cried when she broke up with you.” Jace remembered. Why would Alec do that if he wasn’t interested in women?

“Yeah, but that was, like, two years ago. I mean, who have a been with since?” Alec pointed out.

Jace shrugged. “I just thought you had really oddly high standards in women--”

“I do. They just need to be dudes.”

Jace managed to laugh at that, feeling the tension starting to relax more than earlier. “So… Why didn’t you tell me before?”

“I- I tried to tell you guys last nig--”

“No man, I mean way the fuck before.” Jace complained. When Alec went quiet again, Jace realised he was making things worse. “Your parents know?” he asked to divert the attention.

“No. God no. Its hard enough telling you guys.” He wasn’t surprised. The Lightwoods, though kind, were also very strict and old-fashioned. Of course Alec wouldn’t want to tell him about something this big. “Believe me, I wanted to tell you before. I wanted to tell you for, like, ever.”

Jace felt his phone vibrate in his pocket as Alec was speaking. He pulled it out and glanced down to see a message from Jordan: _HE TOUCHING U?_

He quickly turned the phone back over so Alec didn’t see after Simon text: _COVER YOUR BUTT!_

“I didn’t want things to be weird between us. Nothing will change… right?” Alec finished, avoiding looking at Jace.

Jace looked at his best friend. How sad he looked. How scared he sounded. All Alec wanted was to be open about who he was and now he is scared to lose the people he was supposed to be able to trust. “Nothing’s gonna change, man. I promise.” He smiled sincerely at Alec, hoping to himself that that statement was true.

-

“What do we even talk about now?” Jace asked, staring at the ceiling.

“I can’t believe you didn’t know.” Kaelie replied from the bedroom doorway. “It was so obvious.”

Jace scoffed and rolled his eyes. “You knew?”

“I mean, come on,” she whined. “He’s a good looking guy and he’s never tried to fuck any of my friends.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

Kaelie took her shirt off and crawled onto the bed next to Jace. “My friends are hot.” She straddled his waist and he gripped her hips.  “You know, you should invite him over for a threesome. I’m sure he love that.”

“Oh, sure. That’s a great idea. Let me call him up right now.” Jace joked, tracing the leaf tattoo on her thigh.

The smile dropped from Kaelie’s face. “No, I’m serious. You know he wants you, right?” she asked as if it should be obvious.

He smacked her ass playfully. “Shut up. No, he doesn’t.”

Kaelie laughed at him. “Whatever. Now, just get hard because I have a date tonight.”

“With who?”

“Just some guy. Are you jealous?” he asked, grabbing his crotch over his jeans.

“Not at all. Should I be?”

“Okay, just take your pants off and don’t touch my face, because I feel like I’m starting to break out.”

-

“Dude, I guarantee you a hot-ass MILF drives this thing, man. For sure.” Alec sighed in frustration, closing the hood of the car he was looking at. He wandered over to Raj, who was sitting in another car. “You know what? 90,000 miles. I think she used to drive it, now the daughter drives it.” Raj picked up a stick of lip balm he found in the glovebox and smelled it. “Get a whiff of this, man. I’m thinking 19, strawberry blonde. Volleyball player, maybe.”

Lydia stopped outside the car. “Come on, Raj. Get back to work.”

“I’m checking the fucking mirrors, man.”  Raj complained, putting the lip balm back.

“Just get out of the car.” She ordered. She pats Alec on the shoulder on the way back to her office.

Raj wiggled a wing-mirror. “See, this one’s broken. Goo- Good thing I checked. This one… its all fucked up.”

-

The four boys were sat around a poker table. Poker night was a weekly tradition in their friendship group, alongside many other ‘boys nights’ they regularly held.

“Jace, did you ever call that fanny pack girl?” Simon asked. Jace just shook his head, looking at the cards.

“What’s the matter? Afraid your fuck buddy is gonna get upset?” Jordan teased.

Jace looked at him annoyed. “Me and Kaelie are not fuck buddies. We don’t even like each other.”

Alec laughed. “So, what’s the problem?”

“I can’t remember that chick’s name. I, uh…” He giggled lightly. “I drunkenly save it in my phone.”

Simon grabbed Jace’s phone from the table. “Let me see. I’m good at that shit.” After opening Jace’s contacts, he paused. “… Clamp?”

“You saved her in your phone as ‘clamp’?” Jordan exclaimed. The boys all started laughing.

Alec looked down at his cards, remembering the game. “Oh, uh, raise 20.”

Jordan threw his cards down. “Damn it. If you didn’t get that ten on the river, I could have sucked you dry.” His expression then fell, and the laugher died down - the atmosphere in the room changed drastically.

Alec looked away, trying to think of a way to change the subject. He cleared his throat. “Hey, Jace? Can I see that number?”

Jace took the phone back from Simon. “Yeah.”

While Alec looked at the phone, Jace shot Jordan a disappointed look, which Jordan ignored.

“All right, boys.” Simon declared. “Daddy’s all in.” He looked at Alec smugly, confident he was going to win. Alec looked back up and stared at Simon, looking directly into his eyes. This continued for a few moments. “… Stop that.” Simon muttered. “Cut it out, man. Come on.” Alec continued to stare. “Stop, just--”

“What?” he asked innocently.

“Dude, cut it out! I got two eights. Okay?!”

Alec smiled. “I call.” He turned his cards over. He had won. They boys all cheered in celebration and mocked Simon, who started to sulk. “Oh, and its probably Claire.” Alec added, passing the phone back to Jace. “If it starts with a ‘C-L-A’ its probably Claire, right?”

Jace nodded slowly. “Yeah. I could see her being a Claire.”

The room suddenly went quiet again, Simon and Jordan staring at the table saying nothing. Alec looked around at everyone, sensing a growing tension. “Okay, I’m gonna head out.” He stood up, grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Jordan asked, finally looking up.

Alec hesitated. “… Yeah. You guys are gonna come over for the hockey playoffs, right?”

“Oh, yeah. Yeah. See you then, man.” Jordan quickly replied, looking back at the table.

“Cool.”

Once Alec had left, Simon turned to Jordan. “He definitely wants to fuck me.”

“This is all your fault.” Jordan told Jace.

Jace frowned. “My fault?”

“With your Saint Gay ROM, and EDM, you’re the one who turned Adam gay!”

Jace leaned across the table. “Are you fucking serious? You’re the one who goes to all these Taylor Swift conce-“

“First of all, T-Swift is an angel! Mister skinny jeans and ladies’ deodorant!”

“I have sensitive underarms!”

Simon laughed. “Oh yeah, you do take bubble baths with-“

“You dragged us to see Les Mis!” Jace accused Simon.

“Oh, fuck you man, Les Mis is a classic! You guys just don’t see it because Jordan was too busy sucking Alec dry!”

Jordan pointed at Simon. “You were the one eye-fucking him!”

“He was eye-fucking me!”

“Not what I saw, gay-lord.”

“I’m not a gay lord! I own a fantasy football team and I like Die Hard!”

Jace stood up angrily. “Guys, stop! We shouldn’t blame anybody! He was obviously born gay."

Simon sighed and sat back in his seat, pouring himself a drink. “No, no. Its fine, guys. I’ll take the fall on this one. I’m too good looking. I’m sorry.”

Jace shook his head. “No, its nobody’s fault. There’s nothing wrong with him. He’s the same guy, right?” Nobody responded. “Right?” he prompted. He still got no response.

-

The boys were all sat in Alec’s living room watching hockey. Everyone was watching the game, but remained silent, which Alec was starting to find annoying. Eventually, it became too much for him to handle.

“Can someone just say something, please?”

Jordan turned away from the game to look at him. "Um… So… Um, you really like cock, huh?”

“As much as you like strippers.”

Jace laughed. “No one can be that ga- Oh, shit, sorry.”

“No, its fine. Just say it, please.” Alec pleaded. “I know you guys don’t mean anything by it. You’ve been saying shit like that for years.”

Jace hesitated at first, but smiled and repeated, “no one can be that gay.”

Jordan and Simon began to laugh as well. Jordan paused and said “gay” out loud, which Simon repeated. “Its empowering.”

They all laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation.

**DINGDONG**

Alec looked towards the door before getting up to go and answer it. After Alec left, Jordan picked up an iPad that was on the coffee table. When the screen unlocked, his eyes went wide and he elbowed Simon to get his attention.

“Oh my God,” Simon whispered.

Jace leaned across to see what they were doing and his jaw dropped. It was a dating profile on a site called DudeMingle. “Holy fuck, dude.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jordan muttered. “For a gay dude, he sure can’t take a goddamn picture.” He clicked on a chat notification and zoomed in on one of the messages. “ _Hey, cutie, can’t wait for tomorrow night._ ” He read out loud. The profile was of a young, physically-fit shirtless man called ‘Bradstar’. “Do you think they banged? I mean, I’d fuck that guy.”

Jace heard the front door close. “Put it away, Alec’s coming.”

“Yeah, on Bradstar’s lower back.”

Jace grabbed the iPad from Jordan and put it back on the table. They sat up straighter and started to pretend to yell things at the screen.

“Aw, come on!” Simon yelled. “You can’t blow the whistle that quick!”

“That’s so fucking gay!” Jace also yelled. “No offense, Alec."

“No offense for what?” Imogen asked as she walked through the living room door. The three boys looked at her speechless. “You said something about the gays,” she prompted, adding a suspicious drawl to the word, “and then you apologised to Alec.”

“Oh, um, Alec doesn’t like it when we use profanity in his house, Imogen.” Jace covered.

Simon nodded his head in agreement. “He cannot stand that shit. Ah, sorry, Alec!”

Imogen smiled at them. “I had no idea he was so pious. I’m going to take him to my church group some time.” The older woman looked down at the iPad on the table. “Oh, what’s this?” she asked, picking it up out of curiosity.

Jordan jumped up. “I wouldn’t touch that! The, uh, battery is dead!”

“I think my son has one. Oh, its neat,” she commented, turning it over in her hands so she could see it. After inspecting the outside she opened the case and pressed a button on the side that turned the screen on, bringing up a picture of the shirtless Bradstar. Imogen gasped before slamming the case back down. Simon slowly slid it out of her hands. At this moment, Alec walked in holding a Tupperware box.

“It was really great, Imogen. Appreciate it.” Imogen spun around to look at him, stuttering with her eyes bulging. “Are you alright?” He held the box out for her to take. “I cleaned it for you.”

“I just feel a little faint,” she explained. “I think I’m gonna go lie down. Its getting late.” She went to step past him, but stopped at his side. “ _Decent people_ lie down when its late.”

Confused, Alec watched her leave the room. When he turned back to his friends, they were all avoiding looking at him. “Guys?”

They all slowly turned to him. Jordan shrugged. “Menopause, man. It’s a bitch. My mom slapped a kid at Macy’s once.”

-

Jace jogged up the steps to the house. Once he reached the door, he took a deep breath to calm his nerves before ringing the doorbell. There wasn’t a response for a while, but as he went to try again, the door opened.

“Hey. Sorry. Ghostbusters was on. I totally lost track of time.” Claire looked beautiful in her blue laced dress, which had a low plunging neckline and hugged her body to mid-thigh with a sheer-lace covering down to her knees. Her hair was loose and curly, but she had a plait pulled around her head, connecting at the back. Jace smiled at how gorgeous she was.

The restaurant they went too wasn’t particularly fancy, but it had a pleasant atmosphere. This allowed them to chat more freely.

“Maureen said she’s never drinking again.” Claire informed Jace after apologising for the other night.

“Never?”

“Yeah, never.”

“Wow. So… Friday, then?” Jace joked.

“Probably Thursday.” Claire giggled, her face scrunching cutely. Jace couldn’t help but laugh too. “Actually, on Thursday its karaoke night at the Institute. You should come.”

“I should,” Jace agreed, taking a drink.

“And bring your friend. Alec, was it? Izzy’s brother?”

“Is this, like, a group date?” Jace teased.

Claire started fidgeting with her straw. “More of a group gathering. Its fun.”

“I would love to go… But I don’t think Maureen and Alec are going to work.”

Claire frowned curiously. “Why? ‘Cause she puked everywhere?”

“Uh, no,” Jace laughed. “He’s gay.”

Claire nodded understandably. “Oh, I see.” A thoughtful look appeared on her face. “So, the two of you actually have slept together, then?” she teased.

“No, that was a joke. He’s like a brother to me. I didn’t even know that he was gay until he woke me up and told me the next morning.”

Claire put the straw in her mouth in a playful way. “Were you in bed together?”

Jace hesitated, before realising the implications, which made him laugh. Claire smiled in return. “So, he only came out the other day? Did you not already have any indication of it?”

Jace shook his head. “No, he just told us out of nowhere. Its made me feel so uncomfortable.” Claire paused then started to put her drink down. “You should have seen poker night. Like, having a gay guy around it makes us all feel--”

“Oh, my God, what is wrong with you?”

Jace looked up at Claire, who was scowling at him. “What do you mean?” he asked, confused.

“Your friend just came out of the closet. Do you have any idea how hard that it?”

Jace snorted. “Yeah. Its been very hard. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

Claire scoffed. “No. Not for you. For him, you moron. Oh my God,” she put her head in her hands. “Your best friend just told you how his life is gonna change forever. And all you’re concerned about is how it made poker night awkward.”

“And the hockey game.” Claire picked up her drink and finished it. “Look, I’m kidding. Let’s- Let’s change the subject.”

Claire put her empty glass back on the table. “No, I’m done.” She picked up her bag and coat from her chair and walked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still no Magnus :(
> 
> Also, you guys should check out the original movie!


	3. Dating

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character names that aren’t relevant to the plot are just randomly chosen from a list of TMI characters

Alec sat at a small table in a bustling bar waiting for his date. He and Bradstar had talked frequently, and since coming out to his friends, he had decided to try dating. It didn’t take long to set up a date with Bradstar as the other man seemed extremely (perhaps overly) enthusiastic to meet him.

It wasn’t long until a man came over to his table and took a seat. Alec assumed there was some kind of misunderstanding, until the man offered him an outstretched hand and introduced himself as Bradstar. In shock, Alec slowly shook the man’s hand.

“So, um… when did you take that profile picture?”

The man - apparently called ‘Hodge’ - looked to be in his late 40s, with greying hair and wrinkles. This was very different from the young, blond-haired man with a muscular body he saw in the pictures.

Hodge sighed in shame. “I’m sorry. They’re quite old. It’s a little dishonest, I know. But I felt like we had this real connection online, and I didn’t want to risk not getting to know you.” He smiled at Alec in a way that made him uncomfortable. “But you’re not shallow, right?”

Alec picked up his beer to avoid answering. Hodge clearly didn’t take offence to this as he reached across the table and put his hand on Alec’s arm.

“What do you say we get out of here and head back to my place? Your gonna love my basement.” It took all of Alec’s restraint not to physically get up and walk away. “I got it totally pimped out. Xbox 360.” Hodge took a pill bottle out of his pocket and started taking some out.

“You wanna take me to your basement?” Alec asked incredulously, keeping an eye on the pills in worry.

“It would be fun.” Before he put his pills in his mouth, he paused, looking between his hand and Alec. “Oh, did you want one of these? Its Ropex.”

Alec violently shook his head. “No. No, I’m good.”

-

Alec drove Hodge home, staying in the car as the other man got out. Hodge wandered over the the drivers’ window. “I know what you’re thinking, ‘A basement. Real romantic,’? I’m telling you, its totally discreet. Not even my wife is allowed down there.”

Alec felt like hitting his head off the steering wheel. “Shit, man, that’s awesome. I would love to. But I… I have to go water my plants.”

An unnerving smile grew on Hodge’s face. “Water your plants, huh? How does that one go?” he asked, assuming it was a euphemism.

Alec put on his best fake smile. “Well, first you tilt your head to one side.” He waited until Hodge complied. “Yeah, like that. Then you close your eyes really tight.” Hodge squeezed his eyes closed. “Good. And then…” Alec dragged out the word as he began to drive away.

-

The next morning, Alec and Jace met up at a local sandwich store.

“So, how was your date last night?” Alec asked in a teasing tone.

Jace sighed loudly. “Aw, dude. Long story short, Claire thinks I’m a giant asshole.”

“I thought girls liked giant assholes?”

“Not this one, man, she’s different.” Jace shook his head in disappointment, making Alec laugh. As Alec started eating, Jace replayed his argument with Claire in his head. Had he really been ignoring Alec’s feelings? He promised things wouldn’t change, but maybe some things had to. Starting with getting Alec to open up and Jace learning to listen to him. “Alec, are you good?” The other man paused mid-bite and looked at him. “Are you happy?”

Nodding, Alec smiled. “Yeah. I guess so.” Jace returned his smile.

“Look. I told you nothing was gonna change--”

“And you guys are trying.” Alec stated sincerely. “I appreciate it.” Alec reached out a placed his hand on Jace’s arm in reassurance. After a moment, he sat back in his seat, a thoughtful look in his face. “Besides, things could’ve been a lot worse with Claire.”

Jace scoffed. “I doubt it.”

“Really? Was she 48, and married? Did she want to take you to her basement and make you her sex slave?”

Jace’s jaw dropped open before he burst out laughing. “Dude, what happened to you?”

“Nothing happened!” Alec reaffirmed. Once they had calmed down, a sad smile appeared on his face. “At least you have Kaelie.” He looked down at the table and started playing with the lid of his drink. “I just want someone.”

Jace pulled his chair closer to Alec. “What are you talking about? You’re a good-looking guy, I’m sure you’ve broken a million guys’ hearts.”

Alec scrunched his face up in embarrassment. “Not really. There was Aaron Wrayburn, but that was six years ago.”

“Aaron Wrayburn? No! When you were helping him fix his Camaro?” Alec laughed, looking embarrassed but also slightly proud of himself. “Wow!”

“But that was high school,” Alec shrugged. “Think about how many girls you guys have been with since then.” He went back to eating while Jace just sighed, wanting to help his best friend.

-

“We need to cheer him up guys,” Jace told Jordan and Simon. “He’s not happy. And I don’t think he has been for a while.”

Simon leaned back against the sofa. “And that’s sad, but I’m still not gonna let him fuck me.”

Jace rolled his eyes. “Simon, nobody wants to fuck you.”

“Now your just lying.”

Groaning, Jace threw himself onto a nearby chair. “Guys, can we take this seriously? Do you have any idea what a depressed gay man is capable of?”

“Writing a shitty emo song,” Simon suggested.

“Winning a Tony,” Jordan contributed.

Jace pondered it for a moment. “… Yeah, true. But loneliness sucks. I mean, what if Simon was lonely?”

Jordan examined Simon with a raised eyebrow. “If hypothetically, Simon was a sad, lonely person, ‘cause he pushes people away with his anger?”

Simon frowned. “Hey, fuck you, man. I plowed three and a half girls this last month! That’s more than you--”

“A half?”

“Guys,” Jace interrupted. “Alec is a real person.”

“Hey, fuck you guys, I’ve got feelings!”

“Then prove it,” Jace countered. “Instead of turning everything into a ‘your mom’ joke.”

The boys sat in silence, Jace letting them take time to reconsider their attitudes. After a while, Simon asked, “well, what do you want us to do?”

-

Alec was stood out in the burning heat checking Simon’s car. He had called earlier in the day asking if he could give it a check-up, which didn’t surprise the older man at all since the car was always breaking. Simon was leaning on the other side of the car watching him.

“There’s like- there’s a grinding kind of noise.”

Alec stopped twisting the spanner. “Yeah… it’s the head gasket. Definitely the head gasket.” Simon nodded and made an “ah” noise as if he understood.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought it w--”

“No, I’m fucking with you. Just change your oil.” Alec laughed at the pout Simon did in annoyance. Eventually, Simon pushed himself off the side of the car, turning to look at Alec properly.

“Hey, can I… Can I ask you a question?”

Alec picked up a rag and started wiping at his face. “Yeah. What’s up?”

Simon remained quiet for a relatively long time, looking around him as if he was worried someone would overhear. He then walked closer to Alec to lean into him, then asked, “What’s a power bottom?”

The question earned him a unamused stare. “Do you really wanna know?”

“Well, ye--”

“No, no. Fuck it. I can’t. You’re just gonna make a bunch of ass jokes.” Alec went back to messing around with the engine, leaving Simon to think of something else to talk about.

“So, uh… Read any good books lately?” Alec looked back up at him and raised an eyebrow, unsure if Simon was just fucking around with him.

When he realised that Simon was genuinely waiting for an answer, he stood up straight again. “I… read an article about Kinsey.”

“What’s… What’s Kinsey?”

“He’s a sex scientist.” Simon’s mouth fell open in surprise and his eye widened. “You want me to send it to you?”

Simon nodded vigorously. “Yeah. Yeah. That’d be… Yeah, I wanna… I’d love to read… Yeah, it--”

-

Jace leaned over to Alec, holding the phone out in front of them. “What don’t you understand? You just swipe right if they’re hot and left if they’re busted.”

“And then what?”

“Then… you send them a message.”

“There’s always Grindr, too.” Simon added. Both Jace and Alec turned to look at him in confusion. Jordan snorted from the other side of the sofa.

“That’s only for when you want butt-sex in five minutes,” he commented without looking away from the game he was playing. Jace and Alec turned to stare at him instead.

“I don’t think apps are gonna work," Alec commented.

Jace tutted, gesturing to the phone again. “You have to give it a chance. Put yourself out there. Flirt with them, play hard to get.”

“But that’s easy for you guys,” Alec complained. “I have to walk up to a guy and wonder if I’m gonna get punched in the face. You can go up to any girls you want.”

Jordan put his controller down and turned to him. “But then we have to hang out with girls. Just once I would like to go to dinner and a movie without having to hold in a fart.”

Simon laughed. “You fart around Maia all the time.”

“And it took two years to get to that point.”

“He’s right, man,” Jace concluded. “As a gay man, you have the ultimate advantage. Its easy to get another guy because you know what dudes like.”

Simon grabbed Alec’s shoulders. “Go with your instincts.”

Alec nodded in agreement. “Yeah… Wait, what do guys do again?”

-

The boys were all outside playing basketball. Jordan had the ball and was dribbling it away from Alec and Jace. Once he got within a safe distance, Jordan threw the ball towards the net and it successfully went in. He threw his arms up in the air in celebration while Simon (who was on his team) ran over to him. Simon jumped up onto him, so Jordan grab the tops of his thighs and bounced him around, mimicking sucking his dick.

Imogen, who was out watering her plants, watched them with disgust.

-

Things went relatively back to normal. They still had movie nights, and strip club nights (one trip included Simon jokingly paying a female stripper to give Alec a lapdance). Simon and Jordan decided to improve Alec’s DudeMingle profile, which surprised Alec when he received a much larger number of matches than usual. Things were starting to get better.

-

“My parents invited me over to dinner tonight.” Alec mentioned nervously.

Jace visibly brightened at the news. “That’s awesome man. What’s Maryse making? Maybe I’ll stop by.”

“… I’m gonna tell them. I thought… Maybe you could come?”

Simon finally looked up from the article he was reading, Jordan froze, and the smile dropped from Jace’s face.

“I, um,” Jordan started. “Tonight? Damn, I have a thing with Maia tonight.”

“And I totally would,” Simon explained. “But, um--”

“He’d probably say something stupid and make it worse.” Jordan helped.

Alec looked over to the last person. “Jace?” he said quietly. The man slowly looked over to him. “My parents love you. Maybe you’d make it easier.”

Jace let out a long breath, then nodded, the action getting more encouraging as it continued. “Of course, man,” he finally confirmed, sounding genuinely caring.

-

“So, Alec, how are things?”

“Mom, I’m gay!” Alec yelled with a smile on his face.

Jace burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, can I just pretend to be your dad again?”

“No!” Alec insisted. “I need to be ready for anything. Don’t be afraid to be mean, I can handle it.” Alec wanted to practice coming out with Jace, especially after the train-wreck of coming out to his friends. “I even have note cards.”

Jace nodded. “Mean, okay. Got it.” He took a breath to get back into character. When he was ready, he looked at Alec with a nurturing expression.

Alec gulped. “Mom, I’m gay.”

“What?” Jace declared dramatically. “That’s disgusting! How could you do this to me after I brought you into this world?”

The other man quickly looked down at his note cards in panic. “Anderson Cooper,” he stated confidently.

“I’m a terrible mother!” Jace continued.

“Um- Ricky Martin!”

“My child is ruined!”

“Neil Patrick Harris! Neil Patrick Harris!”

Jace threw his hands up. “Are your notes just a list of famous gay dudes?”

Alec flicked through the pile. “No, I have lesbians too.” Jace took the pile away from him.

“Forget the list, dude. Just be honest. What’s the worst that can happen?” He placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“My mom has a heart attack and my dad freaks out?”

“Your dad collects antique clocks, he’ll understand.

-

Later that night, the two men are sat around the dining room table with Robert, Izzy and Max Lightwood. Maryse came out of the kitchen to place all the food, apologising for the wait.

Once everyone was settled and Maryse had taken her seat, conversation started flowing. “How is everything? Are you still dating Kaelie?” Maryse asked Jace.

“Yeah… sometimes,” he joked. Jace had always found it easy to be open with people, especially the Lightwoods. They were like family to him.

Maryse lightly laughed at him, before turning her attention to her eldest child. “What about you, Alec? When will I see you with a girl?” Alec just shrugged in response, still looking at his plate. “Isabelle has a boyfriend. Did she tell you?”

Both Alec and Jace quickly turned to look at the her. She sighed at them. “Actually, mom, we broke up last week. But he keeps texting me all the time, its getting so annoying."

Jace leaned forward. “Hey, if he’s any trouble, Alec and I will help you out.” He received a laugh from both Izzy and Alec.

“I doubt Izzy needs our help.”

Maryse turned back to Jace. “Do you think Kaelie has someone for Alec?”

Jace’s eyes lit up, which worried Alec immensely. “You know what, Maryse, I think you might be onto something there.” He shot a look to Alec, he shook his head in response.

Robert looked up from the paper he was reading, finally paying attention to his family. “What about Aline Penhallow? I thought you two had a thing?”

“We went to junior prom, like, six years ago.”

Maryse perked up. “You two were so cute. Did I tell you I ran into Jia at the store the other day? She told me Aline is back in town, and she’s single.”

Alec rolled his eyes. “Great… so?”

Maryse tutted. “So, make yourself available. It feels like forever since your broke up with Courtney. You have to get yourself out there.”

Alec bounced his leg under the table, nerves starting to get the better of him. Izzy seemed to notice as she placed her hand on his knee and squeezed lightly. When he looked at her, she had a kind smile, which reassured Alec. “You’re right, mom. And, uh, I have been.”

“Its true,” Jace picked up. “He’s been going on lots of dates lately.”

Maryse grinned joyously at Alec. “I don’t want to sound like a crazy mother that does nothing but hound her son for grandkids. It would just be nice to see you with somebody.”

Alec ran a hand over his face. “What if I never meet somebody?”

“You will. You’re going to meet a great girl. Sooner than you think.”

“No, I’m not,” Alec exclaimed. “Because I… I…” He looked at his mother, who was looking at him curiously. Then he looked at Jace over her shoulder nodding encouragingly. He could still feel Izzy’s hand above his knew comforting him. “... Elton John."

Jace slouched down in his seat and hid his face in his hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yet again, no Magnus. But to quote Maryse Lightwood: "Sooner than you think."
> 
> Apologies for Hodge’s character, but I couldn’t think of anyone else to fill the role and I found it funny to compare TV show/book Hodge to movie Hodge.


	4. "I Think I Met Someone"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The moment we've been waiting for....

“So, your going on a double date?”

Jordan, Simon, and Jace were playing foosball at Alec’s house while Alec changed out of his work clothes to get ready for the date.

“Yeah, with Kaelie and her friend.” Jace hit the ball into the goal. “I think Alec will enjoy it.”

Simon frowned at Jace. “Why haven’t you set me up with any of Kaelie’s hot friends?” he demanded.

“Well, you banged two of them and never called them..” Jace reminded Simon, who scoffed in response.

“They never called me either, so… What am I supposed to do?”

**DINGDONG**

Jace waved Simon over to his side of the foosball table, giving him the control knobs. “I’ll get it!” he yelled up the stairs on his way to the door. He was Imogen through the door before he opened it, and she was holding a foil tray. “Oh, hello, Imogen.”

“Hello, Jace,” she replied morosely, very different from the smile on her face. “I’m just dropping this off for Alec.”  Jace’s eyes widened when he saw the gift - a large rectangular cake with icing creating a picture of the virgin Mary. “Could you give it to him before its too late in the eyes of God?” She held it out for Jace to take.

Jace stuttered for a moment. “Uh, yeah. Yeah, of course. Thank you.”

Imogen’s smile brightened as Jace took the cake from her. Wanting to get away from the situation as soon as possible, the man waved at her and closed the door, checking behind him to make sure she had left as he made his way back to the others. “I hope your hungry!” he sang on his way through the doorway. Jordan ran over, muttering “free cake!” to himself. However, both Simon and Jordan paused when the saw the cake and inwardly groaned.

Jordan saw a leaflet tucked beside the cake and pulled it out. “What the hell is Camp Leviticus?”

Looking over Jordan’s shoulder, Simon giggled. “I think its one of those conversion camps.”

“If you want to make a gay man straight, then you need to put more cleavage on this cake.” Jordan joked.

“Actually,” Simon stated, sounding more serious, “according to an article I was reading, the APA has no proof that a change in sexual orientation is even possible.”

Before Jordan could tease Simon, Alec walked in. He quirked an eyebrow when he saw the cake. “Hey man,” Jace said, walking over to Alec. “Sorry we kind of outed you to her.”

“I don’t care. She thinks we’re all gay,” he laughed.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Jordan interrupted. “You have a date and you chose those pants with those shoes?”

“And that shirt?” Simon continued, gesturing to Alec’s baggy sweater. “You can’t even see your abs!”

The two men shook their heads in distaste and forced Alec back upstairs.

-

“So, I tell the curator, you see my name on the wall? This is my gallery. If I want to submit a 15x8, I’m gonna submit a 15x8.”

Kaelie laughed at her friend’s story while Jace and Alec just stared in confusion. The man Kaelie had chosen to set Alec up was extremely flamboyant, wearing a sparkly hairband, patterned shirt was a thin scarf draped casually around his neck and across his shoulders, and speaking in an overly effeminate way. Usually Alec had no problem with this, but this man in particular was very over the top in everything he did. However, Alec decided not to give up on the date entirely. “Uh, what do you paint, exactly?”

The man rolled his eyes as though it was a ridiculous question. “Mostly abstract post-modern deconstructionalism, peppered with neoclassical ideologies.”

Jace was trying not to laugh beside Alec, which was making it hard for Alec to stay serious. “Wow, that’s a lot.”

“So, Kaelie tells me you’re a mechanic.” Alec perked up at the question - the first time the man has shown an interest in anything besides himself.

“Yeah, I do mostly everything. Small repairs, tune-ups.”

“He’s a great mechanic.” Jace added.

“God, how do you do it?” the man asked with a sad look, confusing Alec even more. “You’re going through life every day, never creating art. I couldn’t imagine.” Alec rolled his eyes.

Kaelie nodded. “Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I actually sketch every day.” As the two began talking to each other, Jace and Alec glanced at each other, non-verbally communicating their discomfort.

“We should check out my gallery,” Alec’s date told Kaelie. “Then afterwards we can go to this fabulous boutique across the street!” Kaelie started giggling in excitement at the suggestion, the two of them happily bouncing around in their seats. “I take some of my other girlfriends there, but they don’t have the body for the place.” He turned to the other boys with a smirk on his face. Kaelie gasped dramatically but was clearly amused by the statement. “”I just said it!” he commented, proud of himself.

“You just said it,” Alec offhandedly replied, trying to hide his boredom.

Jace tapped him on the shoulder and leaned in to whisper to him. “I gotta take you to Taco Bell sometime, they’ve got this fabulous new gordita.”

Alec gasped flamboyantly. “Oh, really? Do I have the body for it?”

“Yeah!”

Alec placed a hand on his chest. “Thank you! You said it.”

“I just said it.”

Kaelie started speaking to the two men, who quickly jumped back to attention. “Marc and I are gonna go and smoke. I want to hear all about this boutique.”

Marc giggled. “Usually I wouldn’t, but two margs and I start smoking like a little hot tamale.”

The two of them stood up and left, leaving Alec and Jace at the table. They idly played with their drinks.

“Oh, wow,” Jace stated, breaking the silence. “He seems… non-threateni--”

“I _hate_ him,” Alec interrupted, making them both burst out laughing. They joy was short-lived as a familiar middle-aged gentleman approached their table.

“Ah, Alec. Nice to see you here.” Hodge greeted, seemingly annoyed. He pointed at Jace. “Is this the reason you’re not texting me back?”

Alec turned to Jace and panicked. “Oh, no, we’re not dating,” Jace explained.

Hodge sighed in relief. “Oh, good.” He laughed lightly. “Sometimes I fly off the handl--”

“We’re engaged!” Alec exclaimed. Jace’s eyes widened as he looked at Alec. “Right, Jace?” Alec begged, but Jace remained silent. “This is Hodge,” he continued. Realisation swept over Jace’s face.

“Oh, honey pie,” Jace smiled. “This is Bradstar?” He held his hand out for Hodge to shake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Hodge looked at the hand with disdain, then went back to staring at Alec. “I could’ve given you everything, you know that, right? And you toss me aside for nothing but a gigolo?”

Jace and Alec both groaned in annoyance. “He’s not a gigolo. He’s awesome.” Alec looked at Jace and smiled. “He’s my best friend.”

At this moment, Kaelie and Marc came back to the table and sat down. Hodge saw them and freaked out again. “Who the hell are you?” he asked Marc angrily.

Marc scowled in disgust. “I’m Marc, Alec’s date.”

Alec put his head in his hands in exasperation. Hodge shook his head. “I see. So, apparently I’m the only guy here who you’re not fucking?” he asked Alec. Kaelie and Marc looked between Alec and Jace in puzzlement as Hodge stormed off. Everyone stayed quiet for a second, before Marc sighed.

“I should have seen it before. Its so obvious, with you perfect hair, and those ‘look at my crotch’ jeans.”

Alec pretended to look Jace up and down seductively. “Mmm, yeah. You should see him dance when he gets two _margs_ in him.” Jace started jokingly massaging Alec’s shoulder and bit his lip.

“No, no,” Kaelie shouted. “They’re not…” She frantically gestured between them. “Ok, this is enough. I don’t know what’s going on. Jace, tell Marc that you and Alec haven’t slept together!” she demanded.

“Yeah, tell him.” Alec encouraged in a mocking voice.

Jace made a show of thinking, even tapping at his chin. “Well, now that you mention it, I guess we didn’t do a lot of sleeping.”

Alec shook his head. “No, definitely not. Maybe a little bit- naps inbetween.”

“But mostly it was just going at it.” He rubbed at Alec’s shoulder again. “You have no idea how good he is, Marc. I hate talking about it over dinner, but--”

“Yeah, don’t brag.” Alec playfully pushed him.

“I would _die_ ,” Jace declared drastically, “if I couldn’t create fabulous multiple orgasms with you every night.” Alec closed his eyes and nodded, pretending to get teary.

Marc started to pick up his things. “Thanks for the invite. I can tell when I’m not wanted. My boy E-Zach is DJing at the Uns-Uns bar tonight, so I was gonna get going anyway.”

“It was really nice to meet you!” Alec stated with an over-enthusiastic grin. Marc glared at him and walked out. “Great headband.” Alec complimented at he walked past, causing Jace to start a giggle-fit.

Kaelie looked at them in anger. She leaned across the table towards Alec aggressively. “What kind of gay are you? You are hating on your own kind!”

Alec picked up his beer. “I don’t hate him because he’s gay.”

“He hates him because he sucks balls.” Jace laughed.

Kaelie rolled her eyes. “You’re such an asshole.”

“I’m an asshole?” Jace asked incredulously. “You’re an asshole for making us hang out with him! What made you think Alec would like that prick?”

“Alec’s gay. And he’s gay. What else is there?”

“Attraction? Mutual interests?” Alec counted on his fingers.

“Not being a raging douchebag?” Jace suggested.

“Oh, is that on your list too?”

Kaelie stood up from her chair. “Well, since you two have so much in common, why don’t you fuck him tonight? ‘Cause we’re over!”

She stormed away from the table, so Jace ran after her. He caught her by the entrance. “Hold on! I’m sorry, okay. We’re kidding.”

“Maybe you are, but Alec’s not.” She pushed a finger against Jace’s chest. “You probably shouldn’t joke around. You’re screwing with his head.”

Jace frowned in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“I told you this would happen. Alec. Likes. You,” she said slowly. She laughed when Jace shook his head in disagreement. “I know what I’m talking about. I’m a girl, I notice these things. Alec didn’t even give Marc a chance. He wouldn’t even look at him!”

“Because looking at Marc makes you want to kill someone!” Jace exclaimed, irritated at Kaelie’s accusations.

Kaelie stepped back, closer to the door. “Fine. Don’t believe me. But when you wake up one morning with Alec’s dick in your ass, don’t come crying to me!”

Jace stood in shock after Kaelie left. He took a deep breath, trying to forget everything she had said, and walked back to the table.

“Hey, there you are,” he heard Alec say. “Wanna get gay?”

Jace quickly looked up at him in shock, before seeing Alec holding a shot out for him. He smiled and took the shot, downing it instantly, planning on forgetting about Kaelie for tonight.

-

“You should do it,” Alec slurred many shots later.

“Noooooo,” Jace complained, equally as drunk.

“You should do it. Yo-you should call her.”

“Never again man, I don’t care how hot she is, or how good at BJs she is, she’s a crazy bitch.”

Alec was lost in thought before he realised that Jace was talking about Kaelie. “No! I’m not talking about Kaelie. I’m talking about Claire.”

Jace sighed and looked away. “No, man. I already blew that one. If I call, I’m just gonna look desperate. Girls like her do not go for guys like me.”

“Girls like what? You don’t even know her.”

“I know she has enough balls to wear a fanny pack to a bar. She’s cool enough to like mojitos and Ghostbusters. She’s funny… and smart…”

“Aww, now you sound like the gay one.”

Jace laughed and pushed Alec almost out of his chair.

-

_“Hey, I’m not here right now, so leave a message.” **BEEP.**_

“Um… I’m just calling to make sure that you, uh, you didn’t… No one- No one bothered- uh, that everything worked out just fi-………….. Um, just calling to wish you a happy day. Anyways…. Cute voicemail. Its Jace. Um… Bye.”

-

Raj and Alec were sitting around in the garage, taking a break. They didn’t have too much work to do, but the heat was making them reluctant to do it. Lydia wasn’t even hounding them to continue, which was unusual.

Raj took a drag from his cigarette. “What’d you guys do last night, anyway?” he asked, noticing Alec’s hangover.

Alec wiped the sweat off his face with a rag. “Went on a double-date with Chris.”

“That’s gay.” Alec raised an eyebrow.

“Really?”

“Think about what you can’t do on a double date? You can’t get your fuck on. Am I right? Did you fuck her?”

The older man rolled his eyes. “No. I did not fuck her.”

Raj hit his shoulder. “That’s what I’m saying. Next time, bring her to your house, rent a horror movie, clean the bathroom, put some candles out…” Alec decided to tune Raj out when the buzzer went off, signalling someone entering the garage. When Alec saw the man step out of his car, he froze.

The man was around his age, with deep tanned skin and a slender body. His hair was a stylishly-messy, asymmetrical undercut, and appeared to have pieces of glitter in it. He wore a well-fitted, mulberry-coloured silk dress shirt with the top buttons undone, showing a portion of his smooth, well-defined chest and a pair of black jeans that were rolled up at the ankles. The way he moved seemed so fluid and confident, and it captured Alec’s attention.

Still ignoring Raj’s ramblings, Alec turned to the mirror behind him and checked his appearance, making sure he didn’t look like the sweat-matted mess he felt like. Once he was okay with how he looked, he walked away from Raj - who didn’t even seem to notice - and made his way to the new customer.

When the man saw Alec, he smiled brightly. “Hello, do you work here?” he asked kindly.

“Yeah, can I help you with something?”

The glittery man nodded and walked back towards his car. “Its been overheating a lot and sometimes it just shuts off completely.”

Alec listened intently, finding himself unable to take his eyes from the fascinating man. Now that he was closer, he noticed some light smudges of makeup around his eyes, as if he didn't completely wipe away all of the makeup he was wearing the day before. “Sounds like it could be your radiator. We should pop the hood open.” The man bent down to grab the hood, and Alec quickly looked away. Instead, he decided to help out. They accidentally brushed up against each other, and the man looked towards him, making Alec blush. “Sorry,” he apologised for possibly getting in the way.

“Oh, no, by all means,” the stranger replied, smiling warmly and stepping out of the way to let Alec work.

Deciding to distract himself with the car, Alec commented “You know, it could be your DC converter.”

“Really?” he heard the man ask. “What… What’s a DC converter?” He asked quietly, though still managing to not sound shy.

“Oh, uh-- Sorry, uh, its what makes your car, y’know… work.” Alec laughed, and the stranger smiled that amazing smile again.

-

“Oh, yeah!” Jordan exclaimed, practically jumping down the staircase into the basement, where Simon and Jace were sat playing video games. “They have arrived! The official invites to Papa Kyle’s Fourth of July BBQ Bash.” He passed invited to the two men. Before Simon could take his, Jordan pulled it back. “You better RSVP this time!”

“Fuck that, you know I’m going. Why do I need to RSVP?”

“’Cause my dad’s sick and tired of running out of ribs!” He threw the invite at Simon aggressively. “You don’t RSVP, you don’t get any ribs.”

Behind him, Alec ran down the staircase. “I think I met someone,” he muttered when he was stood in front of everyone.

Jace finally looked away from the screen, turning to his friend in shock. “Seriously? Who?”

The older boy stuttered. “W-well, I don’t know his name exactly. But we had a moment.”

“Woah, what kind of moment?” Jordan asked. “Like, at a truck stop?”

Alec groaned. “No. How do you know so much about gay things? No. He-- I don’t even know if he’s gay.”

“Don’t you have a gaydar?” Jace questioned.

Jordan laughed. “If he had a gaydar, he would know that Simon loves the cock.” Jace turned to Simon, expecting to get hit, but Simon didn’t even look away from the book he was reading.

Jace just turned back to Alec. “What did his pants look like? Could you see his ankles? Was he wearing a tank top?” He gasped. “Were his nipples pierced?”

“What about his underwear?” Jordan contributed. “Did it have a brightly coloured elastic band? Was he super jacked?”

Alec shook his head. “He was pretty average. Kinda dark colours, but still bright. Yes, I could see his ankles. No nipple piercings. I couldn’t really see his underwear, but they probably existed. And he had muscles, but not too muscly. He was like a normal dude.”

Jordan and Jace both scratched their heads at the complexity of the situation. Suddenly, Jordan perked up. “Oh! How did he eat a banana?”

Alec stared at him. “How would you eat a banana?”

“Like, did he put the whole thing in then pull out just the peel?”

“Yeah, then that’s exactly-- I don’t know! He was just--”

“Guys, guys!” Simon interrupted. “It says here people in North Korea aren’t even allowed to eat bananas. They don’t know what- they don’t know they exist.” Everyone stared at him. “I did not know that. Wow.”

Alec sighed. “Okay, look. All I know is that he was super friendly. And at some point we had eye contact for, like, two seconds.”

Scoffing, Jordan waved it off. “Two seconds? That’s nothing. That’s just polite. See,” he looked at Alec then looked away. “That’s not gay, I’m just nice.”

Simon threw his book to one side. “That wasn’t two seconds.” He got up and walked over to Jordan.

“You wanna do two seconds?” Jordan challenged. “Here we go.”

They looked each other straight in the eye while Jace slowly counted to two seconds. Before he could finish, they both looked away screaming. “I can’t do it!” Simon screamed.

“He’s so fucking gay, Alec!” Jordan yelled.

Jace and Alec smile at each other. “I think you’re in luck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There were a few things I changed in this chapter from the movie to make it a bit more fitting and to flow more nicely, so I hope it worked out still


	5. Lip Balm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it took this long to post a new chapter. I had a lot on my plate with starting my second year at University and babysitting frequently for my mother. Just think of it as a mid-season hiatus :)
> 
> This is quite a dramatic chapter, so be prepared for a lot of yelling.

Raj eyed Alec suspiciously. “Are you wearing cologne, dude?”

“Uh…” Alec quickly tried to come up with an excuse. “Yeah, its to-um, its for- Who do you think drives this car?” He gestured toward the hot guy’s car, changing the subject to something more important to him.

The other man looked at the car and sighed thoughtfully. “It’s a hybrid, and it had a ‘Save the Whales’ sticker, so…” Raj shrugged his shoulders, picking up his lunch. “Probably just some gay-ass hippy.”

Alec perked up but attempted to hide his enthusiasm. “Really? You think so?” After receiving a nod from Raj, he jumped down from the workbench they were sitting on and walked over to the car, opening the door to sit inside. Taking a deep breath, he popped open the glovebox to look inside. He took out a pair of colourful, clearly designer sunglass and lightly laughed, a small smile etched onto his face. There are a few more items in the compartment, but his attention was drawn to a small stick of lip balm. He turned over the stick in his hand, examining it, but he was interrupted by Lydia tapping on the window.

She smiled at him when he jumped and held up some keys. “AAA just called. A girl locked her keys inside of her car. It’s a black wrangler. I need you to go as soon as possible.”

Alec stuttered, debating whether to go or find an excuse to stay in case the hot guy comes back for his car. “Hey!” Raj called from the workbench. “I’ll go. Did she sound 18 on the phone?” Lydia stared at him in disgust. Alec sighed, understanding that he can’t let Raj go, and took the keys from Lydia.

-

Alec slowly wandered back into the garage. The girl had been particularly fussy and difficult, which made the task even more exhausting for him. When he walked through the main door, he heard Lydia talking to a customer.

“You’re all set. Thanks for coming in.” She shook hands with the person in the car.

“Thanks again, I appreciate it.”

Alec recognised the voice instantly and rushed over, managing to reach the car before the man was able to drive away. “Hey!” he exclaimed, gaining the man’s attention. The Asian man smiled at him, making Alec’s heart flutter. The smile began to faulter the longer Alec stood there without saying anything.

“Is there something wrong with the car?” he asks, confused.

Shaking his head, Alec chuckled, “No. You just, um…” He paused again, not having thought through his actions. Suddenly, an idea came to him. He patted his pockets, looking for the small tube. “You forgot your Chapstick.” Alec held out the lip balm, offering it to the man.

The colourful man took the tube from him but stared at it in confusion. “Where did you find this?”

“In your glovebox.”

“And you just took it?”

Alec froze. “No?” he responded, but the man kept staring. “Ok, yeah. But it was-- it was an accident. I didn’t use it or anything.”

The other man continued to stare, but eventually started the chuckle. “Okay. Well, thank you for returning it. Although, its not mine, it’s my ex-girlfriend’s, so I wouldn’t have missed it.” Alec felt his heart sink. _Ex-girlfriend._ “Anyway, I’m gonna go.”

“Yeah, me too. I should get back to work.”

Awkwardly waving goodbye, the man reversed out of the garage. Once he was gone Alec groaned heavily.

“Girlfriend,” he muttered to himself. “GIRLFRIEND!” he yelled louder. “His ex is fucking female! I’m such an idiot!” he shouted, alerting Raj and Lydia who came out of the office to check on him.

“Why you so mad, dude?” Raj asked. “Was it that girl? Was she here? Its so hot today, I bet she had her tits out.” Alec gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to hit something - preferably Raj. “Did you see them? What were they li-”

“I DON’T KNOW ABOUT FUCKING TITS, RAJ!” he yelled angrily. “I’M GAY!”

Raj abruptly stopped, while Lydia stared in shock. Alec turned around and kicked over an empty bucket nearby before walking out of the garage.

-

Jace was sat at a table with Robert, Izzy, and Max, waiting for Alec to arrive. He was helping set the table when Alec rushed in, still in his overalls. Maryse walked into the dining room with some food and tutted when she saw Alec. “Hurry upstairs and put a clean shirt on.”

Alec frowned at her, settling down into a chair. “What for?”

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. Maryse rolled her eyes. “Oh, shoot. They’re early.”

“Who’s early?” Alec looked around at everyone.

“Alec, why don’t you put on one of your father’s nice shirts. Jace, could you get the door?” Jace agreed politely and headed toward the door.

Alec sighed at being ignored. “Why do I have to change?”

Robert put down the newspaper he was reading. “Your mother invited Aline Penhallow and her mother over for dinner tonight.”

The eldest son put his head down on the table in frustration. “What? Why did you do that?!”

Maryse smiled and walked to Alec’s side, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Jia told me she thinks that Aline quite likes you.”

Alec sat up and looked his mother in the eyes. “What if I don’t like Aline?”

Robert scoffed. “How could you not like Aline?”

“There’s a lot of reasons why I couldn’t like Aline.” Alec mocked.

Jace appeared around the corner and started gesturing animatedly to get Alec’s attention. When Alec looked over to him, he saw Imogen and the local Priest walk into the room behind Jace.

Maryse looked over to them in surprise. “Father Malachi. Imogen. What are you doing here?”

Malachi turned to Alec. “What are you doing out of bed?” he asked Alec sympathetically. Alec frowned in confusion and walked over to them. “Now, I’m not here to impose,” he told Maryse. “I know this is a difficult time, so enjoy your last meal with your son. I can give last rites afterwards.”

Robert stood from the table and joined them. “Last rites? Why would you give my son last rites?”

Malachi glanced between the family members. “He’s about to die, right?”

“No.” Alec hastily corrected. Imogen put a hand on the Priest’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry, father, but its worse than death. It’s a matter of eternal damnation.”

Alec’s parents focused on their son - worry gracing their features - who closed his eyes exhaled slowly, resignation sweeping over him. “Mom… Dad… I’m gay.”

Robert shook his head. “That is not funny. Do not joke like that in front of Father Malachi.”

“I’m serious,” he insisted. “I’m gay. I like guys.”

The silence between them stretched out, becoming more and more uncomfortable for the Lightwood siblings watching the events unfold.

“But-” Maryse began. “But what about Aline Penhallow? She’s on her way.”

Alec groaned loudly. “I don’t understand why you don’t understand this! I’m gay! Gay! Like, two guys dating! I like dick!” Imogen put her hands over her ears in shock. “So stop forcing Aline Penhallow on me!”

Nobody spoke in the silence afterwards, and both Lightwood parents stared at the ground in a daze. When the silence became too much for Alec to handle, he stormed out of the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The coming out scene happened kinda differently in the movie, so I tweaked it a bit for reasons that.. may be obvious for anyone who has seen it. I didn't want to write that particularly part lol.


	6. Pandemonium

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a great coincidence that Pandemonium has the perfect meaning?
> 
> Chapter Contexts:  
> \- Jade Wolf is a strip club in this fic, not a Chinese restaurant  
> \- I used Raphael and Meliorn as a couple because they were both unused characters, and I guess they're kinda cute together? Maybe?
> 
> (Also, I should stop promising I'll start uploading more 'cause every time I say it I become really busy :( I will try and upload as best as I can)

“Oh, come on. No, dude,” Jordan complained. He, Jace, and Simon were waiting for Alec to arrive for their usual night out when Jace decided that a change of plan was necessary. “The night is set. We’re going to Jade Wolf.”

Jace rolled his eyes. “And what about Alec?”

“We’ll be there for him,” Simon reassured. “… at Jade Wolf.”

“Come on, guys. How many strip clubs have we dragged him to? How many dollars has he shoved down skanky breasts for you?” Jace stared at Jordan. When Simon snickered, Jace turned to him. “How often has he fixed your shitty car?” Simon looked away, mumbling defences of his car. “When Alec came out, I told him- I promised him that nothing was gonna change.”

“And I think we’ve been pretty fucking cool about that,” said Jordan.

“We’ve done a _decent_ job, but its not good enough. Things _should_ change.” A silence swept the room as Jordan and Simon started to understand Jace’s point. “He needs this. He needs _us._ ”

-

The four boys were walking down the dimly lit street, beer bottles in hand. Alec looked around them, confused about where they were. “Where are we going?” Jace smirked and shrugged his shoulders dismissively. Alec turned to Simon and Jordan, who just looked the other way. “Oh, you’re seriously- you’re not gonna tell me?”

After a few more seconds, they came to a stop outside of a club. “Alright,” Jace announced, patting Alec’s arm. “This is it.”

Alec took in the building, the thumping music and the people milling around outside. A giant neon sign announce the name of the club: **_Pandemonium._ ** It eventually became clear to him what type of club it was.

“Are we really…” he asked incredulously. At Jace’s widening smile, he began stuttering. “Seriously?” he eventually managed to say. Jace grabbed his arm and pulled him inside before he could back out.

Simon went to follow but stopped when Jordan put an arm across his chest, blocking his way. “Remember, don’t make eye contact with anyone.”

“And never leave each other’s side,” Simon recited.

“No matter what,” they finished, fist-bumping to seal the deal, before running inside to catch up to the others.

-

They approached the bar after worming their way through the bustling crowd of people. “Can we get four buds?” Jace asked the bartender.

“Uh, actually,” Alec quickly interrupted, “can you make those vodka sodas?” When the bartender left he turned to the others, who were all staring at him. “We’re in a gay bar, we should blend in.”

Alec surveyed the room while waiting for the drinks. “There’s actually some girls here.”

“We didn’t come all the way downtown for you to look at girls,” Jace sarcastically replied.

Jordan leaned around Jace to talk to Alec. “Yeah. You better get at least eight dudes’ phone numbers tonight, and they better be fucking adorable.”

Simon raised his glass. “Cheers! To our first time in a gay bar!” They all laughed and joined in.

“Should we dance?” Jace asked, looking at the large crowd.

Alec turned back to the bar counter. “No. No, I’m good.”

“How are you gonna meet anybody if you don’t mingle. Let’s go.” He took Alec’s drink out of his hand and put it back on the bar, pulling him along.

After a few seconds, Simon muttered “fuck it” and ran after them to join.

“So much for sticking together,” Jordan mumbled, taking another drink. He looked across the bar to see an elderly looking man staring at him. When the man winked, Jordan downed his drink and followed his friends.

-

The group had been dancing and joking around for a while, occasionally dancing with other people in good fun. Alec was laughing at a weird dance Simon was doing when he moved backwards and accidentally bumped into someone. He quickly spun around to apologise when he caught sight of familiar tanned skin and glittery hair. The man in question appeared to also recognise Alec.

“Oh, hello,” the man kindly greeted. “You’re the mechanic, right?” Alec just nodded, unable to form words. “I’m Magnus. I don’t think we’ve been formerly introduced.”

Magnus gave a sly smile as he looked Alec up and down. Alec smiled back at him, caught off-guard. “Alec.”

“Are you here with someone?” Magnus glanced behind Alec to see a dark-haired man with glasses dancing animatedly for a small crowd of on-lookers. Alec followed his gaze and giggled when he saw Simon.

“Just some friends. They wanted to take me somewhere to enjoy myself.”

“Well, they brought you to the right place,” Magnus commented enthusiastically, his bright smile making Alec’s heart flutter.

“D-do you, erm-” Alec stuttered. “Do you come here often?” Magnus raised an eyebrow and chuckled. Alec groaned inwardly, screwing his eyes closed in embarrassment. “That wasn’t meant to be a pick-up line.”

“Oh, Alexander, I didn’t mind.” Alec opened his eyes, a blush appearing on his cheeks. Hearing his name in that voice… well, it was definitely a new feeling. “But to answer your question, I come here all the time. Its my club.”

This took Alec by surprise. “You own a gay bar?”

“Of course. Why would that be surprising?”

“You said you used to have a girlfriend.”

Magnus’ smile faltered for a moment, and his brows became knitted in confusion. “I did. I also used to have boyfriends,” Magnus calmly explained. Alec mentally facepalmed.

“Of course you did… God, I’m so stupid,” Alec sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. He heard Magnus laugh again.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it. Its an easy mistake to make.”

When Alec looked at Magnus again, he noticed the warm smile was back on his face. They stared at each other momentarily, but they were interrupted by a man placing a hand on Magnus’ shoulder.

“Hey, where have you been?” the man asked. “Ragnor is looking for you. Less mingling, more working.”

Magnus laughed at the man. “Ah, Raphael. Loosen up. You’re meant to be having fun, not running around for Ragnor.” He patted Raphael’s shoulder and turned back to Alec. “Duty calls. I guess I’ll see you around.” He placed a lingering hand on Alec’s arm before disappearing into the crowd.

When Alec tore his gaze away from where Magnus had once been, he saw the latino staring at him. “Do you know Magnus?”

Alec hoped he wasn’t still blushing. “Ah, yeah. I fixed his car the other day.”

A look of realisation flashed in Raphael’s eyes. “Oh, so you’re the hot mechanic.” Before Alec could comprehend what was said, the other man continued. “Raphael Santiago, I’m a friend of Magnus’.” He held out his hand for Alec to take.

“Alec Lightwood.” He shook his hand. Raphael faltered.

“Lightwood? Like, Isabelle Lightwood?”

“Yeah, she’s my sister.” Raphael held up a finger, signalling Alec to wait a moment, before disappearing into the crowd. When he returned, he was dragging a girl with black hair with him. “Izzy?”

The older sibling noticed she was lightly swaying on her feet - she had likely been here for a while. “Wow, you’re settling into this whole ‘coming out’ ordeal quickly.” She joked. “Is Jace with you?”

Alec turned to find him, pointing him out once he was spotted. When Izzy saw him, she sighed. “Shit, that’s not good.”

“What’s not good?” Alec asked. He was quickly answered when a red-headed girl approached the group, a long-haired tattooed man following her.

“Where do you guys keep running off to?” The girl turned towards him. “Alec?” She smiled warmly at him. “Its good to see you.”

“You too,” Alec replied. “Hey, I’m sorry abou-“

“Alec, dude, where have you been? You’re missing all the-” Jace halted as soon as he saw Claire. “Oh, hey.”

Izzy, Raphael, and the other man walked away, which Alec decided was pretty good idea too, leaving to join Simon and Jordan.

“What are you doing here?” Jace asked.

Claire gestured in the direction her friends had gone. “I’m here with some friends.”

They stood in an awkward silence for a moment. “Look,” Jace began. “That voicemail I left the other night-”

“Its fine,” she interrupted. “Don’t worry about it.” She smiled at him for the first time. “Let’s just dance.”

A smile broke out on Jace’s face. “Okay.”

-

The two groups were sat around a table in a late-night diner.

“So, how was your first time in a gay bar?” Izzy asked.

“Honestly,” Simon sighed. “I thought it’d be a lot gayer. I’m kind of disappointed.”

Alec laughed. “It was good. Really good.”

Jace smiled at his friends’ happiness. He turned to Raphael and his boyfriend. “How’d you two meet?”

 “I’m Magnus’ financial advisor,” Raphael stated. “So, since Meliorn runs one of Magnus’ establishments, so we had to interact a lot.”

“One of?” Alec raised his eyebrows in surprise. “He owns more than one?”

Meliorn nodded. “He owns multiple establishments. He’s a true businessman.”

“Who’s Magnus?” Jace queried. “Is that who you were talking to in the club?”

Alec looked down at the table, avoiding Jace’s gaze in case he begins to blush again. His evasiveness and lack of answer created a strange silence. Jace noticed this and decided to change the subject.

“There’s one thing I still can’t wrap my head around.” He pointed to Raphael and Meliorn. “How do two gay men let their friend walk out in public with a fanny pack on?”

Claire gasped and looked down at the fanny pack strapped around her waist. She shook her head in amusement as Jordan started slowly applauding, while the rest of the table started laughing and Simon muttered “that takes a lot of testosterone”.

Jace laughed with them and holds his hands up. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Claire. I can do better, trust me.”

Her laugher died down. “Wait, what did you call me?”

“Claire.”

“Who’s Claire?

The table fell into absolute silence. Jace stared at the girl in panic.

“Who isn’t Claire?” Simon asked in a weird attempt to excuse Jace’s mistake.

Jace pretended to start laughing. “I’m kidding. I’m kidding. Clamp, Claire- Its funny.”

“You think my name is Clamp?”

“He’s joking. He does that,” Alec tried to explain. “He calls people weird names.”

Simon nodded. “He called me Salmon for five years.”

Clary watched them fumble to explain then turned back to Jace. “So what _is_ my name?”

Jace froze. “Um-”

-

Jace and Alec were sat on the couch watching TV, leaning against one another.

“Hey, that guy’s as ugly as you.” Jace joked, earning him a light-hearted push from Alec as they both giggled. A few moments passed before Jace whispered “maybe its Chloe… Should I text her that?”

“No.” Alec took the phone from Jace. “It’s, like, 4am.”

Jace sighed. “You’re right. Only bad things can happen.” Alec laughed at him. “Did you get any dudes’ numbers tonight?”

“No.”

“Not even the sparkly one’s?”

Alec snorted. “No, we just talked. Besides, I was too busy dancing with you guys.” They both started laughing.

“Damn, we were totally cockblocking you.”

“Yeah, its okay,” Alec reassured, still chuckling. He put his head on Jace’s shoulder as he calmed down, making Jace rest his arm on the back of the sofa to let them both get comfortable. “I had a really fun time.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

Alec sighed contently. “I still can’t believe you guys went to a gay club for me.”

“Hey, man,” Jace rested his head on top of Alec’s. “I’d do anything for you, you know that.”

Alec hummed in agreement. He and Jace had been friends for so long they were basically like brothers. They always had each other’s back. Alec was worried that coming out would ruin everything, but he felt closer than ever to Jace now that he was more open with himself, and the younger man did so much to ensure Alec felt comfortable. He really was his best friend. “God, I love you, Jace.”

He felt Jace tense up before he quickly pulled away from him, standing up from the couch. “What the fuck, man?”

“What?”

“What the fuck are you saying?!”

“Nothing, I- I’m just in a good mood. I’m sorry for getting sappy, but-”

Jace goes to walk away but turns back to face Alec looking angrier. “We’re friends, okay! That’s it!”

Alec splutters in confusion. “I know that. Look, Jace, I think you’re overreac-”

“Oh, God,” Jace rubbed his face. “She said this was going to happen. I get that your happy now, and that’s great, but I’m not like that, Alec. Okay? I’m not into dudes, that’s just… gross.”

Alec scoffed indignantly. “Are you kidding me right now?”

Jace sighed. “Look, that’s not what I meant. I-” He looked around the room, unable to look at Alec. “I should go.”

“Yeah, you should.”

Jace grabbed his phone from the arm of the sofa and hastily left the house, pausing on the doorstep to send a text.

            _To: Kaeli_

_U still up?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't ship Jalec at all (I actually hate it so much) so I changed the way they fall out a bit so it was less... gross lol


End file.
